5 Anglican ‘Homosexual’ Clergy Sent Packing
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Tags: Anglican Church of Kenya, Homosexual
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THE Anglican Church of Kenya in Central has suspended five of its clergymen over allegations of homosexuality.
Mount Kenya West Diocese Bishop Joseph Kagunda yesterday suspended the clerics after the ACK Tribunal found them “guilty of the sin of homosexuality.”
“And therefore the sentence of deposition was passed against them,” he said.
Deposition in the ACK involves withdrawing the service licence so the accused cannot preside over church functions.
One of those involved, a senior member of the clergy, is said to have taken advantage of children left in his custody, with some spending the night at the official’s house.
The senior clergyman, who served in several parishes in the region, reportedly befriended the boys and requested them to visit him in church for spiritual guidance but would later seduce them and force them to engage in homosexual acts with him.
The senior clergyman would then force the boys to remain silent and in some cases bought their silence by promising them “a good life.”
Four of the five clergymen are married with families.
Speaking during a press conference in Nyeri town accompanied by 30 members of the ACK’s Standing Committee on the Synod, Bishop Kagunda said the tribunal investigated and found enough evidence that the five were “practising homosexuality”.
The Anglican Church in Kenya has been tough on gay people and its Primate, Eliud Wabukala, has threatened to breakaway together with many other conservatives in the worldwide, particularly African, communion.
The ACK Tribunal appeared to make no distinction between homosexuality and paedophilia, or sexual feelings directed towards children. Most homosexuals do not have sex with children, in Kenya and elsewhere.
Initially, it was one senior clergyman who came under suspicion, but upon investigations by the tribunal, four other clergymen were adversely mentioned.
The bishop said that in mid-August this year, the church received the report on the issue of homosexuality that led to yesterday’s announcement.
He said the initial investigation was prompted by a young man who approached the church seeking prayers after he was lured into gay sex by a senior clergyman.
Although Bishop Kagunda did not disclose the identities of the five, multiple sources said they and their victims are from the Othaya, Karatina, Murang’a and Nyeri areas.
Four of the accused are reported to have confessed their actions.
The bishop maintained that the ACK is totally against any kind of gay practice and marriage, unlike the mother church, the Church of England, which, he said, embraces homosexuality.
He said the clerics’ victims “are at liberty to pursue their cases with police”.
By Wambugu Kanyi
